( >i roBER 3, 1918] 



X. ITU RE 



95 



cuius are well differentiated, t li« ■ sacculus has 

 to do with hearing and the utriculus w iili equilibrium. 

 The sense ol hearing is, however, ol a verj limited 

 kind, amounting to I ban a bai e abilit) to 



distinguish sound, fhe 1 ears ol the lowei 

 ..f a more primitive type, and are probablj responsive 

 only in relatively loud noises, sudi as have been 

 shown in In effective stimuli for the skin. 

 i ■ I Mr. Y. ( >zaki giv< 



sci., Imp. 1 nh .. rolcyo, vol. si., 

 ui tun and conjugation of 

 new species of ciliate pri 

 found living in the respirator) trees ol two Japanese 

 Holothurians (sea-cucumbers) Each Bovi 



mil, near its aboral end, one micro- 



i onjugation occurs periodically, and hence, 



if this process is taking plao al all, the majority of 



individuals in the same hosl an in conjugation. The 



conju - m several remarkable features from 



the well-known corresponding 1 ss in Paramoecium. 



The two coni ut;. mis, which are similar (isogamous), 

 becomi attached to each othei bj their aboral ends, 

 and the meganucleus does noi disappear, bul persists 

 throughout and subsequent to the conjugation. The 

 micronucleus of each conjugant undergoes two suc- 

 cessive divisions, the first amitotic and the second 

 mitotic; of the four nuclei so produced, threi de- 

 generate and disappear, while the fourth divides 

 mitoticall) into two — a stationary nucleus and a 

 migraton nut leus. The migrator) nucleus of one 

 conjnganl passes over to and fuses with the stationary 

 .is of the other, and the synkaryon so formed in 

 ndividual divides twice, giving four nuclei, one 

 oi which becomes the new micronucleus, while the 

 other three undergo degenerativi changes and become 

 incorporated into the persisting meganucleus, but the) 

 ran be traced in the first and second fissions of the 

 now separated Boverias. The authors record examples 

 with two, three, four, and six meganuclei, but in 

 these cases all the meganucli i except one sooner or 

 later disappear. Encystment of the ciliates in the 

 subepithelial connective tissu • (.1 the respiratory trees 

 is also described, bul has evidently not been fully 

 traced. 



Important contributions to the exploration of 

 Labrador by Mr. R. J. Flahert) are described in a 

 paper in the (Icographical AYi'ica- for August (vol. vi., 

 \... 2). Mr. Flaherty in mi. 1 made two crossings of 

 thi unknown northern part ol the Ungava Peninsula 

 between Hudson Bay and I ngava Bay. The firs) 

 was eastward by Lake Minto and the Leaf River. 

 Pari of ibis route was traversed by A. P. Low in 

 1898. 1 1" second (Kissing from east to wesl was 

 through the unknown heart of the peninsula in about 

 lat. 60 N. Mi. Flaherty followed tin Payne and the 

 Povungnituk Rivers, and crossed a barren country 

 almost deserted by the preseni generation of Eskimo 

 since the herds of caribou moved further south. The 

 onl) natives encountered on tin northern traverse were 

 up on the Payne River about thirty miles 

 from tin- coasl . t"he papi oipanii d b; a map 



of the route survi cale of 1:506,880, and a- 



smaller-scale map of tin Unga Peninsula. 



In thi - of the I nited States National 



Museum (vol. liv., p. i) Prof. T. D. A. 



Cockerel! strengthens his highly interesting deter- 

 mination of the presence of Glossina in the Miocene 

 shales of Colorado. Two new species are described, 

 and the author reviews the living forms and their 

 distribution. Osborn's suggestion that many large 

 Cainozoic mammals in America may have been 

 destroyed by flv-borne parasites is rendered highh 

 probable by the wider rangi lies now indi- 



cated In' Prof. Cockerell. 



2553, VOL. I02J 



Much importano - tstl tched to the insect fauna 

 i| 1 he 1 pi" 1 Carb 1 -a ata of Comment) \ 



i.Vllieri, and literature on tl ered specimens 



appears in various lands. L may be well, then, to 

 dire< 1 attention to a critii R.J. Till) ard 



of two of Mr. II. Botton's descriptions of specimens 

 at Bristol (PrOC. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. xliii., 1918, 



p. 123). Mi - I illvard conn ib iratn 



H. us on recent and Permian species from 

 Australia. 



Mu. la R01 Jeffeks (Scientifii Amerit Vugust24, 

 hiiS) has explored the Great Onyx Ca' was 



discovered about two years ago to thi m 1 ol 



the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. The most inti est- 

 ing feature is the greal development of gypsum, 

 produces a rich variety of crystalline growths. We 



have a suspicion that the word " helecl iti s," used for 

 twisted groups, should be written " belictites," from 

 eA£K7*or. 



A "( .11 u Handbook of Northern France" 



'nas been prepared b) Prof. W. M. Davis for the 



use ot American soldiers in France. The book has 

 been approved by the Geographical Committee of the 

 U.S. National Research Council, and copies are being 

 distributed free to the Army cantonments, etc. 



Dr. C. Fenner, a graduate of the University of 

 Melbourne, contributed a physiographic paper of un- 

 usual interest and importance at the July meeting of 

 the Royal Society of Victoria. The paper deals with 

 the physiography of the whole basin of the Werribee 

 River, which includes the Permo-Carboniferous glacial 

 deposits of the Bacchus March district, known to most 

 geologists. Interesting correlations are made con- 

 iK ( ting the topographic units of the area with their 

 historv and settlement, economic conditions and 

 ti 1 - ssrbility, rainfall and water-supply. The rocks 

 of the area include Lower Ordovician sediments, 

 Lower Devonian granitic rocks, Permo-Carboniferous 

 glacial deposits, a mixed Tertiary series comprising 

 older baealts, Tertiary leaf-beds, and newer basalts, 

 while recent alluvium forms the fertile deposits of 

 Bacchus Marsh. The area after peneplanation was sub- 

 jected to differential uplift in the mid-Tertiary period. 

 After the older basalt was poured out, trough-faulting 

 along east and west lines commenced forming theBallan 

 "sunk-land," with elevated blocks of the Lerderderg 

 and Brisbane ranges to the north and south. Follow- 

 ing the extensive newer basalt outpourings, further 

 faulting, involving a western uplift, formed the Rows- 

 !■ i) scarp with a north and south trend; and an east 

 and west fault, with uplift to the north, elevated the 

 Gisborne highlands. Between these elevated blocks 

 the south-eastern part of the area forms the "sunk- 

 land" of the Werribee plains. The relations of the 

 oldei and newet basalts to the various fault-lines are 

 utilised as elements in establishing the ages of the 

 earliet and latei faults. The Werribee River with its 

 tributaries, im luding the Lerderderg River, are 

 vounget tb. hi tin newer basalts, and their courses 

 were established before the later faulting. As a result 

 of the formation of the Rowsley fault scarp the rivers 

 have developed deep gorges cut into the elevated 

 earth-blocks, the Werribee gorge being in 

 600 ft deep, while the Lerderderg gorge, 

 '.it. :d, is in places 1000 ft. in 1 



I in Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin' 

 for June and August contain communications 

 le Mr. R. G. Allen, of the Royal 1 ol science. 



Dublin, on the effect of temperature on the electrical 

 resistances of porcelains, red fibre, and a new insula- 

 toi known as erinoid a by-product of milk. The 



